


Threads

by rae_marie



Series: The War Master New Adventures [2]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Gen, Time War, and i hope it leaves you feeling hopeful, happy box-set-release-date-eve, hopefully this will tide you over until then, i had a lot of fun writing this, i hope it shows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-05 20:13:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16817665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rae_marie/pseuds/rae_marie
Summary: Jara Pallax doesn't understand why the Time Lord called the Master kidnapped him, exactly, or how he expects him to stop the Time War, but that isn't going to stop him from trying his best.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TimeWarSnapShot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimeWarSnapShot/gifts), [thetransgirlwhoneverwas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thetransgirlwhoneverwas/gifts), [Gaz042](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gaz042/gifts).



> I didn't quite expect to write more about Jara, nor did I expect this fic to be so hopeful, but here we are.   
> I am posting this today in honour of the War Master box set coming out tomorrow. I hope you all enjoy.

_Jara felt himself moving and opened his eyes. The containment field hadn't been uncomfortable, and he'd fallen asleep in it, inadvertently lulled by the humming of the ship._

_The field carried him past the glowing console, down the corridor, and into a warmly lit room that was seemingly like a library. The Master was standing quietly, watching him arrive. He pressed a button on a box he was holding and the field came to a stop._

_The Master shut the door, locking it with a key he put in his pocket; Jara made sure to note which one. Then the Master pressed another button, and Jara felt himself freed. He lunged for the Master, aiming especially for the key pocket._

_He didn't know how he ended up on his back on the floor five metres away, but somehow he did. He looked up at the Master, who was smiling at him and gesturing to a chair._

_'Have a seat,' he said._

_Jara scrambled to his feet and backed up against the wall. He didn't want to be in as vulnerable a position as sitting down was._

_Without breaking his smile, the Master reached in his pocket and withdrew a slender, complicated weapon and aimed it at Jara._

_'I_ said _, have a_ seat. _'_

_Jara gulped and came over. He sat down, and the Master came behind him and pulled his hands behind the chair; he felt a rope constrict around his wrists._

_'I don't exactly trust you after what you just tried to do, so you're going to stay like that for now,' the Master said. He came back around in front of him and looked at him seriously._

_'Jara Pallax, you have been brought here for a very specific reason; to help stop the Time War. I need your full cooperation in this; as has been already established, you have special abilities related to the War, and it would be best if you used them for me voluntarily.'_

_'And if I don't?' He looked up at the Master, defiantly steady, though it was difficult. The Master smiled a little._

_'If you don't, your abilities might be a little less effective under mind control, but they will still be_ mostly _effective at least.'_

_Jara gulped. He didn't really have a choice in this. But perhaps he could still have some sort of advantage._

_'I don't understand what my capabilities are. Tell me why you want them, and what they'll do, or else you're no better than the Daleks.'_

_Jara never wanted to see the expression that crossed the Master's face again. It was only there for a moment before the Master laughed and gained his composure, but it clearly spoke of all the terrible ways Jara could die if he ever said anything like that again. He shuddered._

_'Well, you know how you said you wanted to learn to use your imagination, Jara?' the Master said._

_'Yes.'_

_'Well if you use your abilities, I guarantee you that you will use your imagination more times than you could count.'_

_Jara frowned. 'What do you mean?' he asked. The Master stepped closer to him._

_'You said you wanted to know why I want to use your abilites?'_

_'I do.'_

_'Very well, then.' The Master put his hands on Jara's temples and closed his eyes._

_'_ Contact, _' the Master said, and Jara gasped as he was plunged into a world of dazzling lights and spaceships whizzing by. He struggled a little; but realised he was somehow still tied to the chair._

_'Relax, Jara; it's all right. I am showing you a memory of mine that you need to know.'_

_Jara stopped struggling and let himself see everything the Master was showing him. There was a Dalek fleet above him, and a human colony planet below. The scene faded a little, and he was on the planet looking up at the fleet._

_'I have anticipated your every move,' a familiar voice called behind him. He turned. The Master was smirking up at the Dalek fleet. 'You'll never get through to this world; it's mine, and you won't be taking it from me any time soon!'_

_'YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE FULL EXTENT OF OUR POWER!,' a Dalek voice called down. The Master laughed._

_'Oh, yes I_ do! _Don't you remember how that one magnificent encounter we had ended? When that Molly O'Sullivan girl was with me? Hmm? I really think it's_ you _who underestimate_ me! _'_

_Suddenly the ground began to shake, and the Master looked around frantically._

_'What....'_

_'WE HAVE PLACED A BOMB AT THE CORE OF THIS PLANET!' the voice shouted. 'IT WILL DETONATE IN THIRTY RELS!'_

_The Master looked around wildly, then paled and shook his fist at the Dalek fleet._

_'You think you have me beaten, but I can assure you you haven't!' he yelled. He ran for a space pod and flung himself inside._

_The images faded to black, and Jara blinked and looked up. The Master was looking at him seriously._

_'It took five years to conquer that planet,' he said. 'I did it to stop the Daleks destroying it and its entire population, and it only held them off temporarily because I couldn't anticipate certain timelines that shifted around the colony.'_

_Jara stared at him. 'How do I come into this?' he breathed._

_'I have one colony world left under my control. I need someone to help me anticipate the Daleks' moves relative to the timelines they shift, and_ you _, Jara, have the ability to help me predict those shifts. If that one planet is saved, it could possibly turn the tides of the Time War.'_

_Jara stared at him for a while, uncertain if he was telling the truth or not. The Master stared back at him._

_'Will you do it willingly, Jara? As I said before, your abilities work much better under voluntary use.'_

_'How do I know you're not twisting the facts again?'_

_'If I was twisting the facts, Jara, I wouldn't have told you that I conquered that planet over five years, I would have told you I was merely ruling it, or protecting it, or something more innocent sounding. No. I told you the blunt truth because I want you to realise what dire circumstances surround my last remaining subjects.'_

_Jara stared for a moment longer, then nodded his head._

_'Let me out of these ropes and I'll give you all the help you need.'_


	2. One.

Jara looked around at the new planet they were on and smiled. The light green grass looked beautiful waving in the breeze, and there were strange birds he had never seen before hopping around in the distance, and soaring through the violet sky.

'Beautiful, isn't it?' The Master smiled at him. 'This is the last colony of this kind. It's called Zephyr Three-Gamma. There are four hundred and eighty-two humans on this planet; all clustered into three colony towns that circle the water source.'

Jara considered the small houses ahead.

 _Four hundred and eighty-two people here.... This place can't be blown up as well_.

'There aren't.... _children_ here as well, are there....?' The Master nodded.

'There are.'

Jara shuddered and looked up at the sky; so far there were no Dalek fleets nearby, but who knew when there would be?

 _Supposedly_ I'm _supposed to know, but I don't know_ how _,_ he thought.

'Come along! I shall introduce you to a few of the colonists,' the Master said, and headed off towards the nearest town. Jara ran after him to keep up.

*****

Back in the TARDIS that evening, Jara sat in the library across from the Master, drinking - or, rather, _trying_ to drink - something called ' _tea_.' He tried sipping it again, and heard the Master barely hold back a laugh as he nearly spit it out again. He glared at the cup and set it down, and the Master no longer suppressed his laughter.

'I suppose black tea is an acquired taste, though I happen to like it immensely. Perhaps you would prefer the more mild flavour of Pochillian tea.'

'It _is_ rather bitter,' Jara said. The Master smiled.

'Well, I shall have to brew Pochillian next time, then.'

Jara looked up at him. He didn't quite know what to make of this man; this _Time Lord_ , as he had discovered he was. He seemed quite decent for the most part, but then there was the fact that he had tricked him into being kidnapped, and also he wasn't fully sure he wanted to know what he meant when he said he had 'conquered' this planet, and then....well....then there were his eyes. A startling blue that seemed to cut right through you and never seemed to be able to decide on being a dark or light hue. It didn't help that flecks of other colours occasionally flickered through them, either. Jara couldn't decide whether the look in them was kindly, or dangerous, and he wasn't certain he wanted to find _that_ out, either. They seemed very old eyes, but somehow very young at the same time.

One thing was for certain - this Time Lord was a mystery he would never plumb the depths of.

'What are you staring at?' the Master asked, sounding amused.

'You. I can't figure you out.' The Master laughed.

'I'm not sure you'd _want_ to,' he said.

Jara felt a bit of déjà vu and decided to change the subject.

'So about my abilities - how do they work? Can you show me how to use them?'

'Most certainly!' The Master put down his cup and pulled the chair a little closer. 'The way your abilities work is that when you are calm and focused, you can literally sense the different threads of the Web of Time being woven around you and can tell which timelines have the potential for turning out to our advantage, or to the Daleks' advantage.'

'I.... _I_ can do.... _that_....?' The Master nodded.

'That's why the Daleks wanted you to be captured so badly! It had nothing to do with you being a spy; only that you somehow can sense time much more acutely than most.'

'I would _never have helped them_ ,' Jara said through gritted teeth. The Master shrugged.

'That's a noble sentiment, Jara, but as I said before, it _is_ possible for your abilities to still function under forcible methods. Now. I'm going to show you how your abilities work. It's time to use that dormant imagination of yours.'

'How?' Jara shook his head. 'I still don't understand.'

The Master smiled. 'I want you to think for a minute as to how likely it is that I will brew a different tea for you tomorrow.'

Jara frowned, and thought for a moment. He didn't know.

'Think of all the possibilities in that question. Will I make it tomorrow? Will I not? Will I make it twice? Once? Will I try to make it and overbrew it so much that it needs to be discarded?'

'Will you forget to make it tomorrow and do it the next day?'

'Very good! Now, close your eyes, and imagine it, slowly fading into your mind. Like at a cinema. You can see it in your mind.'

Jara concentrated and slowly he saw the images in his mind; all the different things that could happen played out in front of him. Then he could _feel_ it as well, and three of the timelines collapsed into each other with a violent shudder and it was too much and -

*****

Jara cried out and the Master frowned. He closed his eyes and tried to parse what was happening in the boy's mind.

He stood up, alarmed. He reached over and touched Jara's forehead.

' _Sleep, Jara...._ ' he murmured, and he felt Jara's mind resist, then fall quiet.

He straightened. This wasn't good; his only chance of holding back the Daleks from this world was in Jara's abilities, and the boy couldn't even cope with what they were.


	3. Two.

He blinked, and then fully opened his eyes.

He didn't know where he was at first, and then he realised he was in the library in the Master's timeship, and that something painful had happened to him the last he remembered, but then he'd fallen asleep beautifully and the pain had stopped....something to do with his mind....

The Master strode in and over to a bookshelf.

'Good morning!'

'Same to you,' Jara said. 'What happened? Did I nearly die or something?'

'Your mind couldn't cope with being conscious of all the possibilities flooding in at once; you very nearly had your mind broken by it, so I put you to sleep under a bit of hypnosis so you could recover.'

'Thank you.'

'Well, we can't have your mind breaking, now can we?' The Master looked over his shoulder at him. 'Though I'm not certain how we can proceed from here, if that basic mental exercise nearly ripped apart your mind.'

Jara frowned. He desperately wanted to stop the Daleks from destroying this world, but he didn't know how. Then it struck him.

'Master....what did you mean when you said my abilities would be "less effective" under mind control? How effective _would_ they be, exactly?'

'Well, you could probably predict eight out of ten threads - '

'Do it then!' Jara rose unsteadily and took a step towards him. 'I can't handle my capabilities on my own, and you quite obviously have very strong telepathic powers yourself, so do your mind control and use my abilities if you think it will make them actually useable.'

The Master stared at him, frowning, and then laughed.

'A splendid idea,' he said. Jara grinned, relieved that he could do _something_. The Master nodded towards the chair.

'Have a seat and we shall try your idea.'

*****

That evening, Jara felt refreshed and happy as he watched everyone mill around at the party. He, of course, wasn't interested in milling around, but it was fun to watch everyone else and see what they were doing. Over in a corner, two teenage girls were playing with a datapad, in another, two old men were laughing together, and then, walking towards him, was the Master; wineglass in hand, and looking rather grumpy.

'What's wrong?' Jara asked as the Master stopped by his side. 'We did it; we figured out how to use my abilities, and now we can relax.'

'I....' The Master frowned deeper. 'I don't like parties. All that nonsense-talk about nothing that goes on. I'd much rather stand in the corner and watch.' He sipped at his wine and leaned against the sideboard, careful to avoid leaning on the knife balanced on the poultry platter.

'That's what I'm doing,' Jara said, turning.

The Master stared at the platter. 'I'd noticed. And have you seen anything interesting?'

'Not really.' Jara looked out again; there were the two old men, laughing now, and the two teenagers; an adult had joined them....no....wait....she didn't _look_ like one of the colonists....

'Master,' Jara whispered, watching closely, 'I think I see something interesting _now_.' The Master looked up towards where Jara was looking. As they watched, one of the teenagers walked away, and the stranger reached out for the other.

For her throat.

Jara turned to the Master, who turned and looked alarmed for a minute, then reached out towards the platter. The stranger had a weapon between the girl's eyes now, and Jara was about to call for help when he saw something flash through the air and hit the stranger in the back.

Everyone turned to look when the stranger screamed and dropped to the floor. Jara turned back to the Master who was calmly sipping from his wineglass again.

'What did you just do?!' Jara hissed. The Master put his glass down and walked towards his coat, which was hanging on a peg a few feet away. He rummaged in the inside pocket.

'Just something I picked up from an old acquaintance.' He took out the weapon he had threatened Jara with earlier and headed off towards the scene of the crime. Jara followed.

*****

The woman was on her side, gasping, as the crowd around her parted to let the Master and Jara through. The Master levelled the weapon at her and the crowd murmured and pulled back more.

'Tell me why you're here,' the Master said, 'and which faction of Daleks sent you.'

'You'll get....nothing....from me....' The woman coughed and closed her eyes.

'You _will_ tell me,' said the Master, 'or I will keep you alive long enough for you to wish you _had_.'

The woman laughed. 'Sentari Daleks....do not....comprehend _pain_ ,' she said. The Master smiled.

'I thought you might say that.' The woman's expression froze. 'And I applaud your bravado, but I highly doubt what you just said is true. So now that you've told me what I need, I'll just put you out of your misery. Thank you for slipping up there.'

He fired the weapon; there was a flash of light and a high-pitched sound, and then she went still.

The Master looked up at the crowd.

'Back to your houses. _Now_. There's no telling if any more of her kind have made it here or not.'

Everyone looked at each other, then cleared out quickly. Only the Master and Jara remained, staring at the body.

'She was a Dalek....I don't understand. Even the duplicates that captured _me_ didn't look _that_ real.'

'She was part of the sect that you were being transported to,' the Master said. 'The Sentari. They're genetically modified to look Kaled, but they still don't act very Kaled-like. Contrary to her bluster, they _can_ feel pain, however.'

'She....she wasn't here for _me_....was she....?'

The Master looked at Jara, and he knew the answer. He closed his eyes and groaned.

'I shall accompany you back to the TARDIS; you will likely be undetected in there. Come.'


	4. Three.

The days passed, and the Master wondered how much longer things could go on without another Dalek agent showing up. He wondered if that should be the subject of Jara's hunt through the Web of Time today.

That had been going rather well, actually. Several times a day, the Master and Jara sat down and had a pot of tea, and then the Master would put him under mesmeric control and help him carefully sort through the patterns he found in future possibilities, the Master absorbing all the information into his own mind the whole time. Jara was getting quite good at managing his abilities himself, and the Master hoped that soon he would be able to use them entirely independently.

He walked over to the console and turned on the scanner. There wasn't much activity going on outside; only the townsfolk going about their day. The Master smiled; he couldn't remember the last time he had ruled somewhere for this long and no one had come to stop him. Then he looked up at the time rotors and sighed.

'Where do you think he is?' he murmured. 'Do you think he's still alive? Out there, crusading around the cosmos as usual?'

He looked down at the console and wondered if he would ever see him again.

Something in the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he looked up to the scanner. Frowning, he magnified the view, and his eyebrows rose.

Something dark was moving up and down behind the villages, like a seesaw.

*****

'Good morning, Master!' Jara yawned as he walked out into the console room. He froze when he saw the look on the Master's face.

'Wh....what's going on?'

'There is a crew of Sentari Daleks drilling a rather large hole in my planet and I have a nasty suspicion as to why. Do you happen to have any experience in flying spacecraft, Jara Pallax?'

'Yes I do - are you suggesting I evacuate the colonists?'

'Yes.' The Master switched off the scanner and strode over to his coat hanging on the coatrack. 'That is _exactly_ what I am suggesting. I also suggest we gather the colonists together _now_.'

*****

After five hours' work, Jara and the Master had gathered everyone in front of the spaceship hangar in an orderly line; they had been quietly told they were under invasion from the Daleks and needed to be evacuated as quickly and silently as possible. With more self-restraint than Jara had thought would be possible for a crowd this large, the colonists soundlessly filed into the docking bay as he and the Master watched. When the last passenger was inside, Jara nodded to the Master.

'I'll keep the radio on so we can have a constant line of contact.' The Master nodded.

'I'll be monitoring you all in my TARDIS and then I'll meet you where you land.'

'Okay.' Jara squared his shoulders and walked over to the craft.

*****

After launching the ship out past the atmosphere, Jara had finally started to gain a little confidence that this plan might actually work; once the colonists were safely on Delta-Z, there was no way the Daleks would find them there, in its pocket-universe, and as there were no Dalek ships in sight, it seemed likely they wouldn't be caught trying to escape, either.

The radio beeped, and Jara pressed the receiving button.

'Master?'

'Jara! There's a cloaked Dalek warship coming at you at top speed - you have to activate the warp drive _now!_ '

Jara felt the blood drain from his face. How was he supposed to dodge a ship he couldn't even see?

' _JARA! THEY'RE ABOUT TO FIRE THEIR WEAPONRY AT YOU - AND IT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE TYPICAL DALEK WEAPONRY!_ '

' _I'M ON IT!_ ' Jara shouted, and reached for the warp drive controls.

'Jara - they've fired their weapons - it looks like some sort of temporal weaponry - you have to _do something!_ '

Jara closed his eyes. He had to dodge the blasts somehow....

_The blasts hit the ship....the blasts missed the ship....the blasts nearly hit the ship but he dodged it in time...._

Jara gasped and his eyes flew open. He realised what he had to do.

Even if it tore his mind apart.

He reached for the steering wheel.

*****

' _JARA! JARA - THEY'RE GOING TO HIT THE SHIP, YOU FOOL!_ _JARA!_ '

The Master watched in horror as there was an odd weaving of the ship, a flash from the Dalek weaponry, and a flash from the warp drive all at once. Everything vanished; the Daleks, _and_ the evacuation ship. The Master waited, but nothing came through on the radio. With a sigh, he reached for the dematerialisation lever and pulled it.

*****

The Master stepped out of the TARDIS and onto the surface of Delta-Z. He saw a ship caught in a protective field in the distance, and a crew of Deltans helping people off of it and gasped. He locked the TARDIS door and ran towards it. A Grasin Deltan came up to him, flicking its tongue excitedly.

'Pleassse, sssir, ssstay back. There'sss been an accccident with a - '

'I am the governor of that ship's colony - let me through, you imbecile!' The Deltan hopped aside on his scaly blue legs.

'I am sssorry, governor. Pleassse - go attend to your people.'

' _Thank_ you,' the Master said, allowing enough sarcasm into his voice to let the lizard know he needed to keep his distance. He ran over to the ship.

*****

'Pardon me, but have you seen a tall, brown-haired boy in a grey jumpsuit?' the Master asked a Zarif Deltan, who was helping an old woman away from the ship. He shook his head.

'I haven't; I'm so sorry.'

'He was the pilot - are you _certain?_ '

'Yes, sir, I am.'

The Master sighed, and the man walked away, supporting the old woman.

'Were you asking about me?' came a voice behind him. The Master spun around.

It was Jara.

'Jara! You _did_ it! You actually _did it!_ '

Jara grinned. 'I know. I managed to use my abilities to dodge the Dalek weapons and activated the warp drive just in time. I used it to bring us directly here; we almost crashed, but the Deltans caught us in a force field like a parachute.'

Now the Master was grinning. 'Thank you, Jara. You saved the colony.'

'You're welcome!' He paused. 'Um....if you don't need my help anymore, I think I'm going to stay here and help the colonists along with their lives.'

The Master considered this. It would certainly be useful to have Jara with him; help him figure out what the Daleks' next moves would be; help him defeat them many times over. But....the Daleks might recapture Jara if he was at large in the Universe, and that could be disastrous.

'No....' he said slowly.'No....I think it would be best for you to stay here.' He looked up at him. 'Thank you for all you've done, Jara Pallax. You've done the Universe some good.'

Jara smiled and nodded. 'I try my best.'

The Master held out his hand, and Jara shook it. 'It was good to meet you,' Jara said, 'even if we did start off on the wrong foot.'

The Master laughed. 'I hope we meet again. Good luck.'

'You as well.'

The Master smiled, then turned and walked back towards the TARDIS. There were, apparently, times when the Daleks _didn't_ win.


End file.
